sure.
it's very common to eat purslane.
makes a nice addition to salads.
some people even cook with it.
tastes good just by itself too.

I just LOVE Dr OZ. I haven't tried Purslane but Oprah seemed to enjoy it.If it is so tasty why aren't the other varmints eating it into extinction????? Still, next time I see it I may grab a sprig.

Just remember, vegetables are not food. Vegetables are what food eats.

Purselane - It is pretty good. And I recently read you can eat dollarweed? Yes dollarweed. Of course you don't want to eat any that has been in a place that had chemicals applied to it.

I've read that purslane has the highest amount of Omega-3 of all plants. There are cultivated varieties chosen mainly for flavor.

Nancy

I eat it all the time, it's delicious. I put it in salads, I put it in tuna fish, I put it in wrap sandwiches.

It tastes better before it blooms, so try to find sprigs of it that have not bloomed yet. The leaves on the blooming stems can taste a little bitter.

You can cut up and eat the stems too.

I didn't know it until this year, but you can also eat the flowers from perennial peanut. So I've been putting this in salad along with the purslane.

On Top Chef about two seasons ago there was a great recipe for scallops on a bed of purslane, I tried cooking it and it came out great.

I forgot to mention, my Mexican caretaker told me that in Mexico, purslane is called "verdolaga" and it's eaten all the time. He says it's cooked and eaten with pork. If you do a search for verdolaga you can find more info about it.

I've seen it for sale in the produce section of markets that cater to the Latino population. I intend to get some next time and try to root it.

I saw Dr Oz.......

Just grab the stuff that pops up in the yard ???

Same thing???? My luck I will eat something that looks like it and get sick !LOL :)

D`Ann

It's pretty easy to identify. Just do a search for purslane and verdolaga and look at the images. I'm sure you've seen it a million times. It pops up all over the yard.

Oh, my! I just looked up pursland and that is what has invaded my yard. I started pulling it up and after two big buckets were filled, and I hadn't moved very far, I gave up. I bought 'weed killer for southern lawns' but is it too hot to apply it? How long do I need to wait? I have bahaia grass.
Linda Leaf

i grow an ornamental variety, Verdolaga-Francesa, Talinum fruticosum, which i got from nikki. not only tasty, but tough and blooms all hot season. blooms close at night, but otherwise, a great backbone plant in the garden. i use it cooked and fresh.

can you juice it????

It's similar to watercress, so I don't think juicing it would be that great.

Apparently it's used to thicken stews in some countries.

Jupiter,

I wondered the same thing, so I bought one at Kmart, brought it home and compared it, side-by-side, to my weeds. Yep, same thing, just with less showy flowers than the Kmart one had. I'm told it's indigenous if not native to the entire eastern seaboard.

I've also tossed it in stirfry and gotten rave reviews. It doesn't get stringy like spinach and arugula tend to (at least if you're a new cook like me.)

S

i have frozen and dried it. such a mild taste that it doesn't change our tomato sauce but does thicken it. also good in soups. i let it grow like a living mulch under the tomato plants. pinching it back (to eat) encourages branching. i don't think you can root a stem. it's a succulent and has enough water in it that it can release it's seeds before wilting. some even grew in dry sand- i wouldn't even call it soil.
and the omega fatty acid- hey,cheaper than salmon!

Glad this post got upped, because I've been wondering about my purslane. I had a plant that I had to toss because of aphids. And my purslane weeds in the yard have all disappeared.

I think, from last year's experience, they will come back. But anyone got a good way to grow the pretty ones, or cross the pretty ones with the weed ones in the lawn?

I'm happy to eat the weed ones in the yard - they do thicken a stew nicely, and honeybunchy has it right, good food value cheaper than salmon.

But wondering who else grows it and advice they might have.

Susannah

suzannah, sorry i didn't save the website, but a hort. professor at uconn studied cultivation of purslane. all i remember was that it either grew better or had more nutrients with some shade. he may have tried different varieties. i'll search again and let you know if i find it.
pat

You learn something new everyday. I have a plant given to me by an other gardener. She said is was edible and it looks some what like the talinum, would anyone have an idea what it might be? It grows like a weed and I have it all over, but so far I've only grown it as an ornamental.